“It’s sort of odd, because I still am kind of baffled by silk,” he said in an interview near his Greenwich Village studio. “I think it’s mostly that I have a respect for it. The great thing about silk is you don’t want to tame it. You don’t want to flatten it and stretch it and pull it. You want to let it be wild. And you have to just create the conditions where it can do that and then stand back.”
4 comments:
I had the pleasure of working with Mr. Twist a few years back and it is absolutely fascinating to watch him work and how he is able to make various materials move in wonderful ways. This is definitely a production that I would recommend everyone go and see, especially if you are interested in non conventional theatre and design. Basil is really a wonderful "creator of time-based experiences" that is able to create amazing performances with the oddest assortments of materials. Although I''m interested in knowing more of how he gets around using smoke in his performance since smoke is always a red flag in performances. It would be very interesting to have an in depth conversation with Mr. Twist on his process and how he creates these things.
Yes! I'm so glad there is an article about Basil Twist on this blog. I've known about Mr. Twist's work for a while, and I just watched a video of "The Rite of Spring" a few days ago and was in awe of the beautiful forms he created. He has such an incredibly imagination and interest in how to create beautiful flowing forms. I was most intrigued with how live dancers and media interacted with the silks and their movement. I was just made aware of a Theatre Architecture competition in which the goal is to create a "floating theatre" on the banks of the Spree river in Berlin that is specifically built with a specific performance in mind. It would be an exciting idea to think of a space which is specific to a "Basil Twist" performance which would allow the forms and movement of his puppets to truly emphasize the space and tell a site specific story. If I choose to delve further into this competition I will seriously consider contacting Mr. Twist to inquire what his dream space would be for one of his performances.
It's really interesting to see how Basil Twist's relationship with silk is described, as well as how he himself talks about the material, because I would never have thought about it in that way -- almost as living, breathing creature. I had never heard of Basil Twist before either, but it seems like an incredibly unique spin on dance and on performance - "choreography from materials", as he puts it. "Rite" sounds like it would be an incredible experience; the concept of this crew at sea, fighting with some machine, stood out to me especially. It's also really cool to read about the dancer's perspective, and how radically different he feels it is from more standard choreography.
I love Basil Twist! A friend recently introduced me to his work, so I was excited to see this article pop up. (check out his website too. http://www.basiltwist.com/)
I really admire Basil Twist's fine attention to material usage, an element of design that I think is vastly underutilized despite the profound effect it can have on an environment. Hearing him talk about his background and about his approach to art is inspiring, especially with regards to puppetry!
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